Survivor & costly mistakes.
The survivor decisions that shape what your family keeps — the 5% vs 10% election, declining coverage, the refund trap, death-in-service benefits, and planning for a disabled adult child.
Every guide in this cluster
Salary Overpayment Debt After You Retire
A debt notice from your former agency after retiring usually comes from final payroll, not OPM. Causes, the waiver, and repayment options.
The Insurable Interest Survivor Annuity
Leave part of your FERS annuity to a partner, child, sibling, or parent. Cost by age gap, who qualifies, the medical requirement, and the alternatives.
The FERS Children’s Survivor Annuity
When a federal employee or retiree dies, eligible children receive a monthly survivor annuity to 18, or 22 as full-time students.
Remarrying Before 55 Ends the Survivor Annuity
A surviving spouse who remarries before 55 loses the survivor annuity and survivor FEHB, unless married 30+ years.
Two Federal Retirees in One Household
When both spouses retire from federal service: survivor elections, one FEHB plan or two, and how Social Security survivor rules change the math.
Retiring With a Much Younger Spouse
A much younger spouse changes the math: the survivor annuity is worth more, FEHB must stay family, and delaying Social Security helps.
A Prior Divorce Can Cost Your Current Spouse the Survivor Annuity
A court order for a former spouse supersedes the election for your current spouse, who receives only the remainder — and with no survivor annuity, no FEHB. Elect anyway, and here is why.
OPM Says You Were Overpaid and Wants It Back
Three separate remedies and most people pick the wrong one. Reconsideration versus waiver, the two-part test, the set-aside rule that defeats most requests, and how a timely appeal stops collection.
FERS Survivor Benefit Elections: The 5% vs 10% Decision
A permanent 5% or 10% reduction in your annuity that protects your spouse for life — and decides whether your spouse keeps FEHB. The math, the trade-offs, and the FEHB connection most retirees don’t know about.
Declining the Survivor Annuity
The FERS/CSRS options and real cost, the notarized spousal-consent rule, and how waiving it ends your spouse’s FEHB after your death — with a trade-off calculator.
Taking the FERS Refund
Cashing out your contributions forfeits your annuity. The redeposit rule, taxes and the 10% penalty, and the deferred-retirement alternative — with a refund-vs-pension calculator.
Death in Service: Survivor Benefits When a Fed Dies Before Retiring
The FERS Basic Employee Death Benefit pays a lump sum plus 50% of salary — and, at 10 years, a lifetime survivor annuity and FEHB. What your family gets, and a calculator.
The Fed With a Disabled Adult Child: Survivor Annuity + Special Needs Trusts
A survivor annuity that lasts a child’s lifetime — but can’t be paid into a special needs trust, so it can jeopardize SSI and Medicaid. The rules and the tools that actually work.
FEGLI in Retirement: The 75/50/No-Reduction Election
The one-time SF 2818 election that sets your life-insurance cost for life. The 75/50/No-Reduction choices, the 5-year rule, the Option B age cliff, and a three-way cost calculator.
Back to the full pillar
This is one cluster of the FERS & CSRS pillar. Explore your pension, retirement timing, retiring early, service credit, and special situations in the full pillar.
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